Alyssa Monks: How loss helped one artist find beauty in imperfection
Alyssa Monks: Como a perda ajudou uma artista a encontrar beleza na imperfeição
Alyssa Monks transfers the intimacy and vulnerability of human experience onto a painted surface. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
em grande escala,
about something personal
may be helpful to somebody.
possa ser útil a alguém.
I grew up the youngest of eight.
eu sou a mais nova de oito filhos.
extracurriculares
from when I was eight to 16,
entre os 8 e os 16 anos,
in New York City.
em Nova Iorque.
I learned a few survival skills.
aprendi algumas técnicas de sobrevivência.
see you do anything stupid.
ver-te fazer algo estúpido.
and stay in line.
e manter-me na linha.
eu é que ditava as regras.
to be an artist.
sabia que queria ser uma artista.
to support my painting.
and I got an MFA,
my brother asked me,
o meu irmão perguntou-me:
mean next to the paintings?"
ao lado dos quadros?"
that the paintings were sold
que os quadros foram vendidos
had four electrical outlets,
quatro tomadas elétricas,
and a toaster at the same time,
e uma torradeira ao mesmo tempo,
from back around that time.
de torná-la o mais realista possível.
as realistic as possible.
isolated and in total control.
e tinha controlo total.
of painting people in water.
de pintar pessoas em água.
the perfect enclosed environment.
eram o ambiente fechado perfeito.
that kept me busy for a decade.
que me ocupou por uma década.
with the bathwater to make it cloudy
com a água para torná-la turva,
e deitei uma rapariga lá para dentro.
I couldn't wait to paint it.
que mal podia esperar para o pintar.
kind of impulsive curiosity,
por uma espécie de curiosidade impulsiva,
para adicionar:
in my head and hair
o cabelo de vaselina
e reconhecimento,
with more than four outlets.
com mais de quatro tomadas.
acordadas até tarde,
and inspiring each other.
e a inspirar-nos uma à outra.
who made this painting
que fez um quadro
a dançar perto do mar,
e ele disse:
into adulthood, you're no longer a child,
já não és uma criança,
by the responsibilities of life."
ainda não te pesam".
com cancro do pulmão.
and it was in her brain.
e estava no cérebro dela.
fiquei devastada,
and I looked at her,
e olhei para ela, percebi:
how to help her.
having him in charge,
tê-lo a orientar.
taking care of her.
a cuidar dela.
everything I could to help,
tudo o possível para ajudar,
I'm going to need you later."
vou precisar de ti mais tarde".
e a Internet não sabiam:
and the internet didn't know:
consertar a situação,
a estar com ela,
and whatever situation came up,
e em qualquer situação que surgisse,
then now I was surrendering,
passei a render-me,
the uncontrollable
o incontrolável
na situação com ela.
into bed with her and sleep with her.
na cama com ela e dormíamos.
his car coming up the driveway.
o carro dele chegar.
e ajudava-a a andar até à cozinha
que tinha feito
for breakfast.
ao pequeno-almoço.
ela adorava esta parte.
experiência possível,
um segundo de frio.
and bring their kids,
e traziam os miúdos,
começámos a usar uma cadeira de rodas,
we could find to drink her coffee.
que encontrámos para beber o café.
to help me with the showers.
para me ajudar com os duches.
enquanto o cancro crescia.
e foi doloroso,
"o terrível belo".
after her diagnosis.
depois do diagnóstico,
supportive and attentive way.
solidária e atenciosa.
tivessem desaparecido
all together in this unknown,
neste desconhecido,
of my time alone in a studio working,
do seu tempo sozinha no estúdio,
este tipo de ligação
for me to go back to my studio.
voltar para o estúdio.
and I drove back to Brooklyn,
e guiei até Brooklyn.
so that's what I did.
por isso pintei.
that was unraveling in me.
o que se passava dentro de mim.
rendered safe place
os meus outros quadros,
I didn't want to paint anymore.
porque já não queria pintar mais.
ir para fora de casa".
and I wasn't a landscape painter,
e eu não era uma pintora de paisagens,
much of any kind of painter at all,
"tipo" de pintora bem definido,
despreocupada e livre.
It didn't matter. It didn't matter.
back to my studio,
para o meu estúdio,
e desenhei sobre delas.
o que estava a acontecer.
representar um espaço real.
that were fascinating me,
e as imperfeições,
the paint like I used to.
a tinta como costumava fazer.
and suggesting,
chaotic, turbulent surface
caótica e turbulenta
as I was when I was a student.
como quando era estudante.
to put figures in these paintings, people,
pessoas, nestas pinturas,
both people and this atmosphere.
como esta atmosfera.
what I've been working on.
os meus trabalhos mais recentes.
and it's like a preview, I guess,
é um pouco como uma "ante-estreia"
em vez de para dentro.
what matters most to me,
intenção mais profunda,
where there's no resisting or controlling.
sem resistência ou controlo.
big losses in our lives,
are out of our control.
fora do nosso controlo.
sintam a vossa vulnerabilidade,
to find something beautiful
de encontrar algo belo
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Alyssa Monks - PainterAlyssa Monks transfers the intimacy and vulnerability of human experience onto a painted surface.
Why you should listen
Alyssa Monks blurs the line between abstraction and realism through layering different spaces and moments in her paintings. Using semi-transparent filters of glass, vinyl, steam and water to flip background and foreground in her 10-year water series, she seduced the viewer into shallow spaces. Today, she is imposing a transparent landscape of infinite space over her emotionally evocative subjects.
The tension in her mostly large-scale paintings is sustained not only by the composition but also by the surface treatment itself. Each brushstroke is thickly applied oil paint, like a fossil recording every gesture and decision, expressing the energetic and empathic experience of the handmade object.
Monks's work is represented by Forum Gallery in New York City. She lives and paints in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Her latest solo exhibition "Resolution" took place March and April of 2016 at Forum Gallery. Monks's paintings have been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions including "Intimacy" at the Kunst Museum in Ahlen, Germany and "Reconfiguring the Body in American Art, 1820–2009" at the National Academy Museum of Fine Arts, New York. Her work is represented in public and private collections, including the Savannah College of Arts, the Somerset Art Association, Fullerton College, the Seavest Collection and the collections of Eric Fischl, Howard Tullman, Gerrity Lansing, Danielle Steele, Alec Baldwin and Luciano Benetton.
Born 1977 in New Jersey, Monks began oil painting as a child. She studied at The New School in New York and Montclair State University and earned her B.A. from Boston College in 1999. During this time she studied painting at Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence. She went on to earn her M.F.A from the New York Academy of Art, Graduate School of Figurative Art in 2001. She completed an artist in residency at Fullerton College in 2006 and has lectured and taught at universities and institutions nationwide. She continues to offer workshops and lectures regularly.
Monks has been awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant for Painting three times and serves as a member of the New York Academy of Art's Board of Trustees.
Alyssa Monks | Speaker | TED.com